Glucosyl stevia composition
Glucosyl stevia compositions are prepared from steviol glycosides of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. The glucosylation was performed by cyclodextrin glucanotransferase using the starch as source of glucose residues. The short-chain glucosyl stevia compositions were purified to >95% content of total steviol glycosides. The compositions can be used as sweetness enhancers, flavor enhancers and sweeteners in foods, beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
1. A process for producing a highly purified glucosyl stevia composition, comprising the steps of:
adding starch into water to form a starch suspension;
adding a mixture of α-amylase and CGTase into the starch suspension and incubating for about 0.5 to 2 hours at about 75-80° C., resulting in a liquefied starch suspension;
inactivating the α-amylase by low pH heat treatment;
cooling the liquefied starch suspension and adjusting the pH to about 5.5 to 7.0;
adding steviol glycosides into the liquefied starch suspension, resulting in a reaction mixture;
adding a second batch of CGTase into the reaction mixture and incubating for about 12 to 48 hours at about 55-75° C.;
adding a starch hydrolyzing enzyme to the reaction mixture and incubating for about 3-16 hours at about 40-60° C.;
inactivating the enzymes in the reaction mixture by heat treatment;
decolorizing the reaction mixture;
removing non-diterpene compounds by contacting the decolorized reaction mixture with macroporous adsorbent resin and subsequently eluting adsorbed diterpene glycosides with aqueous ethanol to result in a glycoside-containing aqueous ethanol eluate;
desalting the glycoside-containing aqueous ethanol eluate with ion-exchange resins;
removing ethanol from the aqueous ethanol eluate, resulting in an aqueous eluate;
concentrating and drying the aqueous eluate to obtain the dried glucosyl stevia composition,
suspending the dried glucosyl stevia composition in aqueous alcohol to form a suspension, removing unmodified steviol glycosides from the suspension, and separating and drying the highly purified glucosyl stevia composition;
wherein the highly purified glucosyl stevia composition comprises short-chain steviol glycoside derivatives having two or less α-1,4-glucosyl residues, and less than about 15% unmodified steviol glycosides.
2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the mixture of α-amylase and CGTase contains about 0.001-0.2 KNU of α-amylase per one unit of CGTase.
3. The process of claim 2 , wherein the mixture of α-amylase and CGTase contains about 0.05-0.1 KNU of α-amylase per one unit of CGTase.
4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the weight of added steviol glycosides is about equal to that of the starch.
5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the added steviol glycosides are selected from the group consisting of stevioside, Rebaudioside A, Rebaudioside B, Rebaudioside C, Rebaudioside D, Rebaudioside E, Rebaudioside F, dulcoside A, steviolbioside, rubusoside, as well as other steviol glycosides found in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni plant and mixtures thereof.
6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the CGTase is produced by cultures of Bacillus stearothemophilus.
7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the second batch of CGTase has about 0.2-4 units of CGTase per gram of solids.
8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the second batch of CGTase has about 0.5-1.2 units of CGTase per gram of solids.
9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein after the hydrolyzing enzyme treatment, the short-chain glucosylated derivatives of stevioside and Rebaudioside A have two or less α-glucosyl residues.
10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oligo- or polysaccharide hydrolyzing enzyme is derived from one or more sources selected from the group consisting of animal, plant, bacterial and fungal sources.
11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the decolorizing is performed using activated carbon.
12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the decolorizing is performed using ion exchange resins or membranes, said membranes being selected from the group consisting of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis membranes.
13. The process of claim 1 , wherein removing non-diterpene compounds is conducted with a plurality of sequentially connected columns packed with a macroporous adsorbent resin, followed by washing the columns with water, then washing with about 10-50% (v/v) ethanol, disconnecting the columns, and then eluting each column individually with 30-100% ethanol.
14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the desalting is performed by passing the eluate through columns packed with ion exchange resins or membranes, said membranes being selected from the group consisting of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis membranes.
15. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the aqueous alcohol for suspending the dried glucosyl stevia composition comprises from about 0-50% (vol), water, and further comprising the steps of agitating the suspension at about 30-100° C., for a period of about 1-24 hours prior to separating the highly purified glucosyl stevia composition.
16. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the highly purified glucosyl stevia composition has at least about 95% total steviol glycosides on an anhydrous basis.
17. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the highly purified glucosyl stevia composition has less than 15% unreacted steviol glycosides on an anhydrous basis.
18. A sweetener composition comprising a highly purified glucosyl stevia composition made by the process of claim 1 .
19. A flavor composition comprising a highly purified glucosyl stevia composition made by the process of claim 1 .
20. A food ingredient comprising a highly purified glucosyl stevia composition made by the process of claim 1 .
21. A food, beverage, cosmetic or pharmaceutical product comprising a highly purified glucosyl stevia composition made by the process of claim 1 .